Abstract

Hot-electron confinement can build up fields capable of accelerating ions up to MeV energies when an ultrashort 35-fs laser pulse at interacts with a small spherical target. Singly charged ions with different masses have similar energies. A simple phenomenological model describes how ultrashort and less-energy-consumptive pulses drive ions to MeV energies. The energetic and spatial-emission characteristics of protons, deuterons and oxygen ions released from water and heavy-water droplets of in size was determined for this interaction scenario.